Thinking Outside the Bob

At this point in the development of Rover Bob or Bob Rover (sometimes referred to as RBBR in Star Wars talk) we need to think ‘total configuration’. What does the entire Bob consist of?

But this incredibly sophisticated illustration means nothing without the context of the mission. Every NASA runaround the planet thingie has had a mission. Even if the mission was, and probably always was, “Think this thing will work?”

We need a mission for Bob.

Let’s check in with NASA for a list of their past missions. OK then. There have been around 567 (+- 4.5%) different NASA missions including Gemini, Apollo and a few that you probably have never heard of like “Asteroid Redirect”, “Earth Probe Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer”, and “Fire & Smoke”*. After looking through all of the NASA missions of the past, I think we should stick with, “Think this thing will work?”

I know that we are supposed to be designing and 3d printing plastic parts by now but I really wanted to get these frivolous and esoteric matters out of the way as to not interfere with our Design Stage flow.

That said, the Artificial Intelligence and Human Interface components for Bob have gotten me a little freaked out. Might have to consult with Stephen Hawking before we go into fab and final assembly. Maybe Elon as well, he’s scared shitless of A.I.

As for the other modules of Locomotion, Guidance, Sustainability and Capabilities, I think we are on a solid track there. Terra firma as NASA calls it.

BTW, we were thinking about naming Bob in the Star Wars vernacular making Rover Bob, Bob Rover into the acronym RBBR but there is a copyright violation with Arby’s. Plus we didn’t want to confuse our wonderful rover with the worst food on Planet Earth. So, we ain’t going with RBBR even with a number at the end like RBBR 8 or RB3BR.

*Note: Imagine the thrill for the three astronauts, after 10 years of prep and disciplined toil when they get their orders. “You, gentle people have been chosen for the ‘Fire and Smoke Mission’. Good luck and God Bless America...and you actually. Mainly you.”

Back To Mother Earth

Now that we have partaked in the Rastaman interlude, time to get serious about ‘suspensions’. (BTW, 325 kids got suspended in the last post for using ‘shit’ in a sentence.)

Plate 3.77

If you look at the Mars Rover in the reference plate 3.77, you will notice that the suspension that holds the self-driving wheels is friggin cool. (High use of intelligent vocabulary right there.) The suspension holds three wheels on each side. Count them Grasshopper. Three.

The front carriage fulcrums on the frame with a rear lattice-like mono-pivot that distributes Bob’s weight to the most grounded wheel as to free up the ‘most dicked up wheel’. (NASA’s term, not mine.)

Imagine Bob slowly moving across Mars and hitting umpteen (NASA’s term, not mine.) rocks and prior NASA delivered pieces of garbage on the surface of the red planet.  Bam! Bob hits a rock. Bob’s ass end raises up to take pressure off Sally the rock. And, there you have the world’s first intergalactic Bob & Sally early reader book. That said, this is exactly what is cool about the rover suspension, even without Sally.

I know that you are asking as to why your car doesn’t have this three wheel drive array on each side. Not sure but I am guessing that the next time you get stuck up against a Mars rock you will fire off an email to Ford suggesting a third complete redundant rear drive assembly just like Ol Bob’s here.

For you slow learners, a more simple exploded view with assembly numbers for rocket scientists who earned their PhD putting together Ikea flatbox furniture.

Suspended

Just checked and we are still suspended from prototyping our friggen self-driving wheelie thingie due to no parts at the door. I did interrogate the mail dude but he claims total ignorance.


Didn't See That Coming Did You?

Speaking of suspension, we are going to need some sort of suspension for our rover. However, before we dive into that quagmire of geometry and the inevitable tirade of swearing*, our rover needs a name.

What would NASA do? Well, they decided to have a ‘name this piece of shit’ contest and over 9,000 children responded. Not because they cared about a spacecraft but they just couldn’t resist 'talking shit'. Seems the king of the trash mouth kids was a nine year queen, Clara, with a curious mind.

Though I think a naming contest would be terrific, the amount of effort to promote the ‘Name Willy’s Rover Contest’ would take us far beyond my attention span. (BTW, 'Name Rover's Willy was not going to work at that middle school level.)

A name. What is in a good name? Let’s Google it. Superforcasters claim that 'Hezekiah' will be the top boy's name in 2016 and I can tell you right now that our rover will not be named Hezelwhatever. Next tack, Top Dog Names: Piper & Jax.

The tenth most popular dog name is ‘Marley’. And, given that the Wailer digs the Rastaman vibe, he’s going with ‘Bob’. Bob Rover or Rover Bob. Makes no difference as both sound great for a Mars Rover confined to the comforts of Mother Earth and her abundance of recreational hemp.

I wonder if Matt Damon could grow weed in human poop on Mars? "Screw the potato chips, you’re stranded on Mars for god’s sake. Crank up the Wailers and get high brother."

 Jeez, what’s that smell? Totally forgot what I was supposed to do in this post. Guess we are suspended again.

Rover Bob, Bob Rover
https://youtu.be/wWExueaMgaQ



 *Note: Recent research shows that people who swear a lot have greater vocabularies as they use words beginning with "A, F, S and 'friggin' a lot. Really a lot.

While We Are on Parts Hold

Complexity Simply

So, what’s the big deal around 3d printing? Let’s go back in time. What was the big deal around printing? ‘I know, ask me. Ask me.’ Ok, “What was the big deal about printing?”

The first printer was a press invented by Johannes Gutenberg in 1440. Actually that is bullshit as there were movable ceramic type presses employed in China in the early years of the last millennium. Korea had movable metal type around 1377. Ol’ Johannes well might have been violating international copyrights with his press.

The second press introduced to the western world came in 1441 and was used for the first edition of Playboy.

But, what about printers. Good old 2d printers. Probably Chester Carlson with xerography and his ridiculous Xerox Machine.  Who cares? The original question was, “What was the big deal about printing?” And the answer is, ‘printing and ridding the earth of pesky trees’.

But what about 3d printing? I am sure there are many bennies but I’ll start.

1)      It is one of the easiest ways to get an idea into a product, whether for personal use or for others.

a.      Why? Because the process is virtually tool-less. No saw, no lathes, no CNC machines. Just an idea, some design software and a 3d printer. No degree or apprenticeship needed.

2)      Customization: Modification of any design is just minutes away.

3)      Complexity: With all other means of fabrication, we are stuck with the confines of the process such as a lathe. However with 3d printing, we are making our model one tiny layer at a time. For example, GE is now using 3d printers to make more efficient and complicated jet fuel nozzles. (Nope. They are not plastic.) Of course, your dentist is probably making crowns in her/his office using a printer. And, body parts are made with printers as well.

There you have it; cheap, easy, fast, custom shapes in minutes. Time from concept to prototype? A couple of hours.

In The Beginning

One of the great things about writing your own blog is the complete freedom this creative outlet allows the author. Writers (me) can lead readers along a path and then just change the path or eliminate the path. No more path. Sorry!

Anyway, I need to confess to a small course correction in our path here. Ok, here it comes. ‘This attempt to 3d print a Mars Rover replica is not..jeez, I hate this. This project is not my first 3d Rodeo. I have strayed. This is not my first time.

Anyway, who would be stupid enough to make such a complex project the first test of the technology of the future? My first time was making an octopus. That’s correct. A stupid half-assed octopus flashing a peace sign. I was forced to make this ‘thing’ by the Lulzbot folks as the initial setup procedure. Even Dollar Store wouldn’t sell an octopus flashing a peace sign.

And, embarrassingly, there have been other indiscretions in the past as well. Actually, I have had my printer for over three weeks now and it has hardly ever been not printing one thing or another. I’ll share a few past projects along the away here. But for now. Back to our very cool Mars Rover Project v1.17 (I assume we will have a few versions going forward.)

 

 

 

As stated previously, someplace. One critical component of our rover is the self-propelled wheels. My first thought was to place hamsters in the wheels and then just train the hamsters. Unfortunately, I have read that hamsters and Mars don’t mix.

 

 

My Plan B looks like this.

I have ordered two motors and electronic speed controls used in my remote quadcopters as a base point for prefabbing and testing deep inside the Willy Wailer Skunk Works Lab. For now. We wait.

Note: To self. This initial mockup will not work. Keep thinking.

Faced With Step Two…or, 124

This is what we want to replicate.



Maybe a tad bit smaller and not with the weird guy in the white suit,

 

Let’s take a closer look. First, it was designed on Earth but it is supposed to run around Mars. Ours, unfortunately, is pretty much destined to run around Dublin California. 

The biggest challenge, well one of the biggest, is to duplicate the driving wheels. If you look closely at the picture above, you see that there are no axles on this rover. If you now go out to your car and look closely, you will note that your car as one or two axels. In fact, if you look at any driving vehicle within 356 miles of your house, they have friggin axles.

Yet, mysteriously the rover ain’t gottem. So, how does the rover move? Beats the shit out of me. Let’s Google that puppy. Should have known. Each wheel has its own motor. Fantastic! Now all we have to do is attach a motor to each wheel. OK, the two front wheels. Let’s not get too carried away. Got it figured out yet? Me neither.

See, the design of the wheel must contain the motor inside the wheel and tire. Otherwise, anything hanging down other than a rotating tire will get caught on rocks or maybe a Martian bone or something. Probably all of the crap we sent up there. Over there. Not sure if it is up or over. Certainly not down there. Hell no, not down.

Houston we have a problem. The Mars Rover has just had a collision with the Mars Explorer that we landed 10 years ago. And, Explorer is now Exploder as it died crashing into the Mars Octiplant parachuted on the surface along with 300 tons of worthless crap over the past 20 years. It’s like friggin Mt Everest with more discarded O2 canisters than actual open snow for walking. Climbers now walk on steel canisters all the way to the summit and never touch ice.

OK, I’m done with that rant. Back to our project.

Being a fast learner and swift of intellect, I reckon that we need to place an electric motor inside those tires. Furthermore, we need to control this thing remotely. Remember the NASA specs? Consider a remote controlled toy. So, we might start thinking about steering as well. (We’ll get to the solar recharging system next month.) Plenty on our plate right now for sure.

Its a start. A small step for a man...

 

Rover, Red Rover

You ask, “Why start building a landing craft for NASA for our first 3d project”. Well, Dad always said, “Aim high, hit high. Aim low, hit low.” Or was it Mom that said that? Not sure. Anyway, after seeing ‘The Martian’ I think NASA needs all the help it can get. Plus we are going to make a rover that plants potato eyes in human poop so that we can eat them. Yum!

There are a few ways that we can approach this build. One, we can go down to JPL and steal one of their prototypes and scan it into a 3d scanner that will provide a file that can be converted into a different file which can them be compiled into a language that can be interpreted by Java which then can be recompiled into c++. Then, a miracle happens and we get a .stl file for Cura to drive the printer. Of course, by then we are in jail facing grand theft and country endangerment charges by HLS.

Two, we can Google ‘Mars Rover’ and get many pictures of Pathfinder, Sidewinder and Self-Winder, one of which actually made it onto an Atlas rocket a few years back. Here is a great picture of one of the ‘winders’ that we can use to model our rover from.

 

Now we just have to use 123d and design all of the 3,765 parts that you see in the picture.

A third way to build our rover replica is to find some open source files placed on the net by real rocket scientists who actually made such a replica. We can start by searching ‘Thingiverse’ website for such files. After a couple of hours of searching we find there is quite a range in the quality of rover models to choose from.

Not Exactly What We Were Looking For

To cut to the chase, I will choose to download some files and design some of our own unique parts for rover from both these downloaded files as well as self-created parts using 123d. Why? Because our rover is going to actually run with remote control and be battery driven with solar recharging just like NASA required in the original RFQ. (Request For Quote) You didn’t get a RFQ. No problem. I did.